Invasion of Poland
Background Since the end of World War 2, the border between Poland and the Soviet Republic of Belarus had been widely considered by both sides to be the starting point of the next war. The reason was foremostly that it was harder for the Allies to defend than the forests in Finnish Karelia and the Carpathians in Romania. A Soviet-occupied Poland would also present a grand opportunity to strike at Czechoslovakia, not to mention Germany, one of the if not the most important Allied nations, with much industry and population. And lastly, the Soviets had always wanted domination of the Slavic population in Poland, which had always had a deep connection in one way or another to Russia. The Soviet military decided to ignore the aspect of unpredictability, and massed its forces near the Polish borders in December 1964. The Allied officers knew that the time of peace was coming to an end. Orders to mobilise were frantically sent out through all of Western Europe from both the Palais des Nations and the Kremlin. From Gibraltar to Istanbul and from Dublin to Helsinki, millions of men were called in to defend their continent. Likewise, Ukrainian peasants and young workers of the Union were conscipted by the Union to serve their glorious nation. The industries of the Ruhr and the Volga started to pump out tanks, and scientists and engineers massed in Amsterdam and Moscow to plan new ways to kill their enemies, innocent men and women who happened to live in the wrong countries. It was only a matter of time until the winds of war would cover Europe in blood. As the predictions correctly told, it would begin at a border outpost between the easternmost parts of Poland and the Belorussian marshes. More precisely by the Belorussian town of Mikasevicy, where one of the larger Soviet outposts were. On the 4th of January, the commander of the Soviet Belarus Army, Colonel General Kirov, met with strategist Major Lyebanov in Minsk to plan the invasion of Poland. An Allied spy sent for this occasion overheard the conversation, and informed the Polish in panic. They immediately called in their reserves and moved towards the Soviet border. On January 6, the Soviet government called the rapid Allied movement towards the border a "threat to the Soviet Union" and readied the soldiers in Belarus and Lithuania for war. However, there was still hope for the situation to defuse itself; unfortunately, Gary Powers found himself once agin shot down by surface-to-air-missiles over the Soviet Union. Premier Cherdenko claimed that this was proof of an impending Allied invasion of the USSR, and ordered a premptive strike into Poland. The Third World War was on. Force Composition Allied Forces The entire Polish armed forces, both army and air force, stood ready to defend its home against Soviet aggressors. The Polish armed forces were as well equipped as the goverment could afford, with one of the highest percentages of federal spending to the military in the world. Unfortunatly, Poland had yet to recover fully from centuries of occupation, and wasn't rich enough to buy the top level in Allied equipment. It lacked any air cavalry, a meaningful navy, or heavy bombers. Such financial setbacks made the Polish turn to clever if outdated methods. Otherwise, the Polish Army consisted of about 340,000 men and about 1,200 tanks. The 3rd Peacekeeper Division was tasked with guarding the border, but they were based in Germany, away from the effective range of Soviet bombers. They could arrive in Poland after a single day, but Peacekeepers were kept on the eastern border of Poland to patrol and guard checkpoints, a calming measure on the Polish government. For everyday operations, a patrol (nine Peacekeepers, two Javelin Soldiers, and a attack dog) was used, but in emergencies, a rapid response team of 3 Riptides with mounted soldiers could be counted on. To better cover large areas of uninhabited wilderness, flights of Hermes and Claymoore UAVs were used. For anti-air duties, the Peacekeepers relied on the Polish Air Force. Soviet Forces While the army was going through massive reforms since Premier Cherdenko came to power, the Soviets had to strike before spring, as the Germans would have reinforced themselves enough to hold the line by summer, and the Soviets could advance far with the advantage of winter warfare. Therefore, the tank arsenal was not entirely replaced as planned, and the bulk of the Soviet armour consisted of the older T-58 Rhinos, supported by several of the newer T-64 Hammer Tanks. A total of four tank divisions were used in the initial invasion force, supported with nearly a million conscripts and three Infantry Armies, with many others waiting in the Union to be deployed when needed, mop up resistance and reinforce losses. The infantry, numbering a total of 1,500,000 men, was reinforced with KDB-5 Sickles, which were to provide anti-infantry support for the soldiers and the tanks. Lastly, several aviation regiments would support the invasion with anti-air and tactical and strategic bombing, including MiG-19E Fighters and Tu-24 Badger Bombers. When the Tanks go Marching in Only moments after the Premier declared war on the Allies, Soviet T-64 Hammer Tanks and T-58 Rhino Tanks rolled over the border to Poland and East Prussia, crushing any resistance by the Polish border guards. The Peacekeeper patrols were outnumbered by the sheer numbers of Soviets, and the Polish, expecting to easily take down Rhino Tanks that had been studied carefully beforehand had to face the new Hammer Tanks, superior in every way to the Rhino. Eleven men and a dog couldn't defeat sixty conscripts and a Sickle, especially not while being run over by a tank at the same time. While a portion of the initial invasion force was taken down by the Allied border guards, the Soviets sent twice as many to push on the invasion. The Polish defenders, though brave, were no match for the Soviet tanks. Their old-fashioned rifles could hardly hope to dent the thick sloped armour. In only a day, the Allies had been pushed back to Wilno and Lwów, and the Soviets hadn't lost even a single skirmish. In short, things were looking grim for the Allies. Meanwhile, the Polish Air Force had been readied, and the Soviet invaders began to find themselves being targeted by Allied bombers, slowing down progress somewhat. In response, the Soviets increased the deployment of anti air defences greatly, in addition to sending in their own air force. Numerically superior to their foes, the Soviet MiGs quickly eliminated most of the Polish ground attack aircraft, putting them out of commission. The Soviets met less and less resistance, due to slow Allied mobilisation in Germany and the exhaustion of the Polish troops. Hurting the Allied morale further, the Soviets used appropriated civilian ships to land a division in the poorly defended city of Gdansk, which quickly seized the city before continuing to advance south. While the Polish strength faltered due to the countless defeats, the people of Poland remembered the horrors of occupation by Stalin's Union, and did everything they could to help the army. Wherever they went, the Allied soldiers fighting in Poland could expect free food and housing. But alas, they could still not fight back the Soviets, who reinforced their strength in Poland almost daily. Grodno, Bialystok and Lublin were all captured within a week of the initial invasion. Propaganda leaflets were dropped down over Poland, but mostly torn apart by the Poles, refusing to be fooled by Soviet rhetorics. After another week of Allied defeats, the citizens of Warsaw could see silhouettes of enemy vehicles on the horizon. Third Time's no Charm in Warsaw While the Allies had expected that they would eventually have to defend the city of Warsaw, they certainly didn't expect the Soviet Army to be efficient enough to reach the Polish capital in two weeks. The Allies had called in reinforcements from Germany, but they weren't expected until the third week of the invasion. When word reached the Allies that the Soviets were closing in, they decided to send what could be spared from the Polish Army that was being mobilised in western Poland. A quickly assembled force consisting of Mastiff Tanks and Beagle Light Tanks was therefore present in Warsaw to fight back the invaders, along with a few infantry divisions. But when the Soviet tanks approached Warsaw, at 8 AM on the 14th of January, it was clear that the Allied attempts were of no use. For every tank the Allies had in the city, the Soviets had two. As the Soviet tanks rolled over the Wisla river on the battle's second day, an Allied officer aptly remarked that "all the men are not enough, we need the women and the children". After three days, the battle was over. In the end, the Allies had lost all their tanks in their city and most of the foot soldiers, while the Soviets had at least half of them left. Little remained of Warsaw, as shells had flown through the city for 72 hours straight, tearing down countless buildings. The poor citizens, many of them remembering the last and some even the first time, again began to rebuild their homes, like so many times before. Steamrolled but not Defeated After Warsaw, the Allies had little will and power left and turned to retreat. Without any organised resistance, with only a number of guerilla forces that were quickly crushed, the Soviets could take Krakow four days after Warsaw was "liberated", and Katowice the day after that. Polish leaders and scientists fled the country to Berlin and on to London, from where they continued to operate as a government-in-exile under the Allies and develop new technology. In what was left of January, the Soviets could secure the rest of Poland with ease. The Soviets reinforced their forces fourfold with Poland firmly in Soviet hands, and divided their forces in three; one third was to advance into eastern Germany with the primary goal of Berlin, the second army group to aim for Silesia, western Czechoslovakia and Prague, and the third to advance down the Balkan pensinsula via Slovakia and Hungary. On January 30th, as the Allies only remained in pockets around Poznan, Poland was declared an "Occupied Soviet Republic", and all over the country the Soviet flag flew in place of the Polish. Colonel General Kirov was decorated as a "Hero of the People" for his victory, and Major Lyebanov was promoted to Colonel. The panicking Allies had only mobilized to two thirds of the strength estimated to be needed to fight back the Soviets, and Central and Eastern Europe was thus in dire threat. The Polish people, which had supported the Allies greatly under the invasion, turned to underground resistance, a strategy which had been highly successful in the last war against the Soviets, and was to be a great annoyance for the Soviets during the entire war. Aftermath The Polish people were terrified of the coming occupation. Few people had been more oppressed by occupiers than the Poles, and the last war was the worst. Many contemplated suicide rather than face the Soviets, and it is thought that over 60% of the population joined the resistance, a record for any country ever up util now. To everyone's surprise, though, the Soviets were somewhat benevolent invaders, the benevolence ordered directly by Premier Cherdenko. Commisars were extra wary, ready to punish any conscript caught looting or comitting any other crime of occupation. The Soviets quickly moved in relief supplies for civilians caught in the war, and many international humanitarian organisations were allowed free reign of Poland and other occupied areas. The Soviets even helped rebuild the cities destroyed, Soviet convicts working aside skeptical Polish citizens. While still dedicated to defending their homes, the Allies were relieved that they were fighting human beings this time. Category:Battles